An air strike on a Myanmar civilian supply convoy trapped between junta troops and anti-coup rebels battling outside its second largest city killed at least eight people, two locals said Wednesday.
Myanmar鈥檚 embattled military has increasingly deployed its air force to fend off the myriad of opponents facing it in a civil war it sparked with a 2021 coup, but civilian casualties are commonplace.
Two local residents in the central Sagaing region, near the second biggest city of Mandalay, said air strikes hit a stationary convoy of trucks on Monday which had been stranded by nearby fighting.
Both residents said at least eight people were killed near the village of Taung Yin, just 17 kilometres from Mandalay 鈥� although one resident said an anti-coup fighter was among the dead.
A Myanmar junta spokesman could not be reached for comment.
鈥楾here have been difficulties in identifying the dead bodies,鈥� said one of the locals. 鈥楽ome were scattered into pieces.鈥�
Images on social media 鈥� which AFP was able to verify were in the area of the reported strike 鈥� showed burning trucks spewing smoke and bystanders carrying away bodies.
Myanmar鈥檚 military has pledged an election in December as a way to end the civil war which has left more than 3.5 million people displaced and half the nation living in poverty.
Pro-democracy guerrilla groups and powerful ethnic armed organisations have pledged to boycott the vote, which international monitors have criticised as a ploy to legitimise continuing military rule.
However in recent weeks the junta has won a string of victories in central Myanmar, clawing back territory from rebels where it may now hold the vote.
The second local resident said the trucks were carrying fuel bound for rebel-held areas 鈥� speculating the military hit them to squeeze shipments heading to zones outside their control.
鈥楾he road had been blocked due to the Military Council鈥檚 offensive,鈥� he said, explaining the bombardment took place over two hours on Monday afternoon.
鈥榃e could not even raise our heads,鈥� he added.
